Russian Towns, Cities / Urban Development

Moscow, urban design, the territory opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Red October factory. A small park is located on the roof of a parking lot and a cluster of production pavilions.

Link on Yandex.Map

Summer near Voronezh
Yandex.Map
I highly recommend you to spend your time and explore Russia with these amazing panoramas from Yandex. It really gives a very visual representation of the country.

Planting trees on the roofs is nothing uncommon. In most of the cases, those are planted in preconstructed cavities that will limit their growth.



And you pick the right tree.
Here is a company that specializes in that, take a look :
https://www.vdberk.pl/projekty/

Only scale here is a bit unusual.

Санкт Петербург, greetings from the imperial city...



Before and after




Before and after








Michailovskaya military artillery academy..

New sports indoor arenas under construction


Санкт Петербург, Saint Petersburg
SKA Arena, capacity 22 400


Екатеринбург, Yekaterinburg
UGMK-Arena, capacity 12 - 15 000


Омск, Omsk
G-Drive Arena, capacity 12 000

The one in Belgorod was built in 2021.
Belgorod Arena, capacity; 10 105..

Sports arenas are usually pretty boring buildings. But that one in St P is stunning, probably the most attractive in the World. And infact one of the most stunning new buildings anywhere in the World... IMO.

The city of Cherepovets got a big facelift:
https://newsvo.ru/news/206131

BTW, during my most recent trip to Russia I was pleasantly surprised by most of what I saw. Even some previously messed up country roads hundreds of miles from the nearest millionki had been refurbished to high standard.

Still a lot in a sorry state though, but it is nothing short of remarkable how much better things are now compared to only five years ago.

And how this supposedly totally bankrupt country with 200% of its working age men dead in Ukraine already, manages to develop things at rapid pace, it makes no sense.

One particular 300-400km stretch of road seemed like a giant uninterrupted construction site, really, just massive.

That goes for the rest too, really. I had a good laugh comparing what I saw with my own eyes vs what Google Street View (from 2018 the latest I guess) was showing of the same area. Hell, even Yandex' own, 2020 or so was decidedly outdated. Buildings refurbished, streets refurbished, stuff cleaned up.

That said, again, a lot is still in a sorry post-Soviet state, but the improvements across the board are mind-blowing. Made me realize that when anyone says "I went there 5 years ago, and this and that was crap" it simply isn't really valid, let alone the opinions of those who last visited a decade ago or so.

Dr.Snufflebug wrote:The city of Cherepovets got a big facelift:
https://newsvo.ru/news/206131

BTW, during my most recent trip to Russia I was pleasantly surprised by most of what I saw. Even some previously messed up country roads hundreds of miles from the nearest millionki had been refurbished to high standard.

Still a lot in a sorry state though, but it is nothing short of remarkable how much better things are now compared to only five years ago.

And how this supposedly totally bankrupt country with 200% of its working age men dead in Ukraine already, manages to develop things at rapid pace, it makes no sense.

One particular 300-400km stretch of road seemed like a giant uninterrupted construction site, really, just massive.

That goes for the rest too, really. I had a good laugh comparing what I saw with my own eyes vs what Google Street View (from 2018 the latest I guess) was showing of the same area. Hell, even Yandex' own, 2020 or so was decidedly outdated. Buildings refurbished, streets refurbished, stuff cleaned up.

That said, again, a lot is still in a sorry post-Soviet state, but the improvements across the board are mind-blowing. Made me realize that when anyone says "I went there 5 years ago, and this and that was crap" it simply isn't really valid, let alone the opinions of those who last visited a decade ago or so.

Sad thing is that it was precisely only in the last 5 years that any attention at all was paid to facelifts, city beautification, modern urban planning, or such. And nevermind for the provinces and small cities, but even for Moscow itself

And it's absolutely criminal that this whole area was ignored as it gave endless propaganda ammunition to the Western enemy, helped convince a lot of Russia's own people that the country has no future, limited tourism to the country and contributed to people's dour moods.

Russia only ever starts focusing on areas once the fact that they have become massive problems cannot be ignored any longer, but by then the damage is done
Just like fire safety standards and blatant disregarding of them by venues across the country was only paid attention to after a fire in a nightclub killed over 100 people. This is the inefficient nature of the country's administration and said administration's
and leadership's self-serving attitude which no amount of cosmetic facelifts can fix sadly.

flamming_python wrote:

Dr.Snufflebug wrote:The city of Cherepovets got a big facelift:
https://newsvo.ru/news/206131

BTW, during my most recent trip to Russia I was pleasantly surprised by most of what I saw. Even some previously messed up country roads hundreds of miles from the nearest millionki had been refurbished to high standard.

Still a lot in a sorry state though, but it is nothing short of remarkable how much better things are now compared to only five years ago.

And how this supposedly totally bankrupt country with 200% of its working age men dead in Ukraine already, manages to develop things at rapid pace, it makes no sense.

One particular 300-400km stretch of road seemed like a giant uninterrupted construction site, really, just massive.

That goes for the rest too, really. I had a good laugh comparing what I saw with my own eyes vs what Google Street View (from 2018 the latest I guess) was showing of the same area. Hell, even Yandex' own, 2020 or so was decidedly outdated. Buildings refurbished, streets refurbished, stuff cleaned up.

That said, again, a lot is still in a sorry post-Soviet state, but the improvements across the board are mind-blowing. Made me realize that when anyone says "I went there 5 years ago, and this and that was crap" it simply isn't really valid, let alone the opinions of those who last visited a decade ago or so.

Sad thing is that it was precisely only in the last 5 years that any attention at all was paid to facelifts, city beautification, modern urban planning, or such. And nevermind for the provinces and small cities, but even for Moscow itself

And it's absolutely criminal that this whole area was ignored as it gave endless propaganda ammunition to the Western enemy, helped convince a lot of Russia's own people that the country has no future, limited tourism to the country and contributed to people's dour moods.

Russia only ever starts focusing on areas once the fact that they have become massive problems cannot be ignored any longer, but by then the damage is done
Just like fire safety standards and blatant disregarding of them by venues across the country was only paid attention to after a fire in a nightclub killed over 100 people. This is the inefficient nature of the country's administration and said administration's
and leadership's self-serving attitude which no amount of cosmetic facelifts can fix sadly.

Isn't that rather typical though?  I mean, regardless of where it is.

The one thing that bothered me while I visited "war-torn" Russia in 2023, especially in small, forgotten towns in the middle of practically nowhere, was the lack of easily done cosmetic stuff. Like I was willing to do it myself right there and then. Things like unkempt public lawns and what not.

Give me a mower, I'll have the entire town done in a day. I'll do it in my free time, no salary needed. Get me a case of beer and I'll be happy. That's like 350 rub there, the price of a kebab roll in Moscow.

Clearly there is some administrative inefficiency going on, is what I'm saying. Locally, that is.

The thing has much in common with the general wealth of a population.
It is like in China. Back in the 90s, the usual Chinese were too busy working to care much about anything more.
Now, as they are getting more and more wealthy - there is a demand for nice and comfortable infrastructure.
They are building air purifiers in a size of a skyscraper, and there is an air purifier in almost every single home.
They demand waste treatment, clean rivers, air etc.
On the other hand, you have India ...

Yeah that's quite similar to my own apartment block. Except my one isn't as big and is separated from the rest of the ant colony (as we call them) by a motorway which means a lot more territory for just us - basketball courts, outdoor exercise equipment, shops, parking and the surrounding greenery. We also have a back road that leads straight to the metro too on our side.

These apartment high-rise complexes are very typical for Russia as new housing, following on from the Soviet trend. Even our rich often live in high-rise appartment buildings; simply much more expensive ones, with large territories and all sorts of exclusive infrastructure.

Looking at the last 30 years though they've gotten bigger than their Soviet-era equivalents and that's often a problem, particularly if they're built in place of an old housing block with the result being you now have more people per sq. km than the infrastructure was designed to handle. But even new areas suffer from that too, as in some of them the population density is just too much

The trend now is towards low-rise housing, as can be found in many European countries too.

GarryB wrote:That is interesting because we have mostly single level or two storey houses mostly and the government is suggesting more high rise solutions to the high price of land ownership...

That is simply not a thing in Russia. Those who want houses live beyond the city limits. Even the rich typically can't get around this; there are a couple of suburbs for private housing typically on islands and such within a few cities, but mostly again such areas are outside the cities.

There are a few exceptions. For example in Kaliningrad and the surrounding region you still have a lot of surviving houses from the Prussian and German period, which have since been privatized. Even in large Russian cities you will find the occasional private house dating back from the last century, typically built there before urbanization and the city's boundaries expanded there. Visited such a house a couple years back. It was fenced-off and had a pond and large garden all of its own in an area otherwise dominated by Soviet-era appartment blocks, but the house itself seems to date back to the 40s or 50s and was kinda falling apart.

People are starting to understand that suburbs are not a good idea. 

On the flip side, educated people are realizing that Soviet apartment buildings are practical and much better than the modern suburban houses.

Where one of my relatives lived before he passed on, the "commie block" complex had small shops within short walking distance where
you could get all the food you wanted. There was lots of variety and choice. So these are not the sterile North American style social
housing projects where you have to get in a car and drive to a mall for provisions from the generic supermarket. Russia has generic
supermarket outlets in apartment complexes also, but there is a certain "old style urban area" aspect that deserves appreciation.

Soviet neighborhoods are urbanistically much better when compared to what was built in last 20 years in Russia. When my friend showed me Murovo or Murino, don't remember the name exactly, suburb of Peter, i really disliked what they done there. Any Soviet block is miles ahead of that.
For example, what they do in Mariopol, right now, should be a template, going forward.

caveat emptor wrote:Soviet neighborhoods are urbanistically much better when compared to what was built in last 20 years in Russia. When my friend showed me Murovo or Murino, don't remember the name exactly, suburb of Peter, i really disliked what they done there. Any Soviet block is miles ahead of that.
For example, what they do in Mariopol, right now, should be a template, going forward.

Neighborhoods such as Murino are examples of the extreme, but yes many neighborhoods over the past 20 years have suffered from the same problems; too much population density, developers skimping on their obligations to build up mandatory infrastructure (kindergardens, playgrounds, etc..), the last 5% of construction being left unfinished or rushed, bad transport access, etc...

But things have been tightened up. Some of the new neighbourhoods built across Russian cities during the past 5 years (in Ekaterinburg for instance) have some serious Feng shui. Hopefully the European trend of 3-5 storey housing will continue catching on too.

Futurists like Issac Auther believe that the self-sufficient gigantic high-rise buildings are the future of human settlements... While traditional houses may have some aesthetic appeal, but they are not sustainable for accommodating large populations, particularly in urban settings like Moscow. So, the Soviet housing principle was ahead of its time, even if the technology wasn't quite there yet.







By the way, these ideas are not new. It was the brilliant Soviet Russian scientist Nikolai Kardashev who first proposed a scientific method for measuring a civilization's technological advancement based on its energy usage.  

These videos may seem overwhelming at first, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to understand how a civilization can become super advanced, based on the Kardashev principles. 

It's a shame that Russians have forgotten about Kardashev and have been swayed by American propaganda, from trashy rap music to unsustainable suburban living and a car culture that's just plain heinous. It's time for Russia to reclaim its scientific heritage and revive the ideas of forgotten geniuses like Nikolai Kardashev. . Russia has so much potential for technological advancements and becoming a super advanced civilization.... All they need to do is carefully choose and implement the brilliant (albeit crazy) ideas of the USSR's finest scientists. 

I like the architecture

Russia could use some of those Kardashev supertalls for sure

As for pouring in all our budget into brilliant minds' hookey ideas or just general scientific development - I'm sympathetic to the idea but honestly I'll pass. The scientific budget has to be reasonable. What thanks did the USSR get for winning most of the space race, or spending 1-2% of its entire GDP on the Buran program - which was trashed as the USSR broke apart never to be revived?

Russia needs to invest into its people, into science and technology for them; medicine & rehabilitative technologies, high-tech mass transit systems, driver-less vehicles, smart cities, workplace automation, industrial and consumer robotics, nuclear and renewable energy technology, passenger aerostats, drone delivery services, faster construction methods, maybe some sort of dome enclosures for towns and cities in the far north. All that stuff's no less important than space and theoretical physics - but has a more immediate and direct effect where it counts, and your people will have something to show for it reflected in their living standards and comfort; other than just national prestige.

Arrow wrote:

It won't be needed. Global warming will do its job. With climate change, more and more of Russia's vast amounts of land will be much more accessible to life, etc. In many places in the south, life will become harder and harder. Russia is in a good position that it will have more and more land to dispose of and develop.

Well even if it warms up, those cities and settlements will still need light during the winters.

So I propose R&D into satellites capable of beaming down an artificial mini-sun onto these places.

Hey, I heard the idea from somewhere and decided it's a good one